This site is to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. If you're unfamiliar with prison abolition, check out Critical Resistance. I'm just a freelance writer and human rights activist, and have no legal training.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Cowards. Now he's free to run amok again, abusing his power. Why do
we really think we can trust the police to police the police, anyway?
Join Phoenix COPWATCH instead of signing a stupid petition appealing to Uncle Sam to rescue us this time. And vote the pig out of office, if you can...

In a 5 p.m. Friday news release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann
Birmingham Scheel, acting on behalf of the United States Department of
Justice, announced her office "is closing its investigation into
allegations of criminal conduct" by current and former members of the
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's
Office.

Federal prosecutors have advised Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery of the decision.
In a four-page letter to Montgomery, Scheel explained the reasoning for the decision.

Federal prosecutors decided to not prosecute matters tied to alleged
misuse of county credit cards by sheriff's officials, alleged
misspending of jail-enhancement funds and other matters. The U.S.
Attorney's Office had already made public it would not pursue charges on
those matters.

Scheel wrote that the agency declined to initiate any state criminal
charges arising from its broader appointment to pursue state charges
that may have come up in connection with the federal investigation.
Several federal attorneys had been deputized to handle state crimes
arising from the investigation.

"Law enforcement officials are rightfully afforded a wide swath of
discretion in deciding how to conduct investigations and prosecutions,"
she wrote. "Unfortunately, such discretion can act as a double-edged
sword: although it empowers fair-minded prosecutors and investigators to
discharge their duties effectively, it also affords potential for
abuse. Our limited role is to determine whether criminal charges are
supportable. After careful review, we do not believe the allegations
presented to us are prosecutable as crimes."

Scheel wrote that federal prosecutors reached the same conclusion on
potential federal criminal violations, specifically related to the
allegations involving retired Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe.
Attorneys considered whether former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew
Thomas and his former Deputy County Attorney Lisa Aubuchon committed
perjury in causing a complaint to be filed to avoid a court hearing, and
whether their pursuit of criminal charges amounted to a violation of
federal criminal civil rights laws.

Scheel wrote that the agency was mindful that a disciplinary panel
had concluded Thomas, Aubuchon, Hendershott and Arpaio conspired in a
criminal manner to violate Donahoe's civil rights.

"However, our obligation is different from the State Bar disciplinary
panel, under its rules and burdens of proof, has reached certain
conclusions about the conduct of Thomas and Aubuchon," she wrote. "We
must weigh the evidence and law under the far heavier burden associated
with criminal prosecution. Based on this review, we have concluded that
allegations of criminal misconduct under federal statutes are not
prosecutable."

She wrote it was "not enough to show that Judge Donahoe was subjected
to conduct that was abusive or even unconstitutional. While Judge
Donahoe suffered severe turmoil resulting from the criminal charges, as
evidenced by the record in the Bar proceedings, we don't believe there
is sufficient evidence to meet our burden that he suffered the sort of
complete job depreciation contemplated by existing precedent."

"I'm just pissed," said Maricopa County Supervisor Andy Kunasek. "If
(former Deputy County Attorney) Lisa Aubuchon and (former Sheriff's
Chief Deputy) David Hendershott are not prosecuted for perjury, then
this is all about politics. This is about a Justice Department that is
afraid to do their jobs."

Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, one of those who has
sued Arpaio alleging she was improperly investigated, said she was
shocked when contacted by The Republic.

"I can't imagine why they would do that when there's so much evidence
there, particularly from the Thomas case and all the testimony that
came out. I just am floored," Wilcox said.

Sheriff's Deputy Chief Jack MacIntyre commended federal prosecutors for their handling of the investigation that began in 2008.

MacIntyre also said the U.S. Attorney's Office recognized that many
of the allegations related to the anti-corruption enforcement unit
Arpaio started with former County Attorney Andrew Thomas were handled in
the State Bar proceeding that resulted in Thomas being stripped of his
license.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office and its investigators recognized what
Sheriff's Office has said all along: we did not make any prosecutorial
decisions, even through things were referred to the then-county
attorney," MacIntyre said. "The sheriff and the Sheriff's Office commend
the U.S. Attorney's office for having the honesty, the integrity and
the strength of character to make the statement that they do today:
clearing this office and dispelling the shadow that's been lingering
over it for over three years."

Thomas, a onetime Arpaio ally, was disbarred earlier this year.
During the disbarment proceedings, testimony was given that Arpaio or
his subordinates had abused the power the office.

The investigation began in December 2008.

Bill Solomon, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said he
could not comment any further on the agency's decision. He said the
agency would not immediately release records pertaining to the closed
investigations.

Corrections Corporation of America won the DOC contract for 2000 new beds. Is it any wonder?

This should trouble AZ Regents Dennis Diconcini and Anne L. Mariucci - they will profit from the prisons that are funded with money that could have otherwise gone to Arizona's educational system. But I doubt they will do much but celebrate this news.

Laurie Roberts

AZ Republic (AUG 30, 2012)

On Friday, the state of Arizona plans to award one lucky –
or perhaps just well connected -- company the contract to build and
operate 1,000 private prison beds for medium security inmates.

This, despite the fact that we have 2,000 empty beds and the overall crime rate is down.

This, despite the fact that it actually costs taxpayers more to operate private prisons.

This, despite that fact that it’s been only two years since three
inmates escaped from a private prison in Kingman, murdering an Oklahoma
couple in New Mexico. That prison, which was later found to have a
number of deficiencies (clearly), was run by Management & Training
Corporation.

Yep, Management & Training Corp. is one of the five out-of-state
companies in the hunt for the lucrative contract to be awarded on
Friday. Another of the bidders is Corrections Corporation of America,
whose lobbyist is no less than Gov. Jan Brewer confidante, Chuck
Coughlin. Among others, that is. All five companies employ a phalanx of
lobbyists to roam the Capitol hallways.

Apparently, it pays off.

House Minority Leader Chad Campbell today renewed his call for
Attorney General Tom Horne to investigate possible violations of state
law and the procurement code.

“The Attorney General’s Office has the power and an obligation to
intervene before that contract is signed and nothing is being done,”
Campbell said. “We should not be rewarding out-of-state, for-profit
prison companies with contracts if they are violating the law and
wasting taxpayer money.”

Among the possible violations, Campbell says, is a requirement that
any proposed private prisons save taxpayers’ money while providing the
same or better quality prison digs.

Yet a report this
week by The Republic’s Craig Harris suggests that private prisons are
nearly 10 percent more expensive to operate. The average daily cost per
inmate in a state-run medium-security prison in 2010 was $48.42 while
the cost in a similar private prison was $53.02.

Corrections Director Charles Ryan says the savings come in having a private company foot the bill to build the prison.

So says the man with 2,000 empty beds – some of which surely could be
reconfigured to hold drunk drivers and other non-violent criminals.

Corrections Department will award 1,000-bed deal to 1 of 5 contenders

Craig Harris / AZ Republic (AUG 26, 2012)

The state Department of Corrections plans Friday to award a private
prison contract for 1,000 medium-security beds for men, citing a lack of
beds for violent offenders and a projected increase in the overall
inmate population.

Five out-of-state companies are vying for the contract. The value of
the deal has not been disclosed while the state reviews the bids, but it
likely will be worth millions of dollars annually. Sites being
considered are in Coolidge, Eloy, Florence, San Luis and Winslow.

The contract comes even though the state's overall prison population
is expected to remain flat the next two years and increase only slightly
thereafter. State records also show it's more costly for taxpayers to
have private businesses run prisons.

According to state records, there currently are about 2,000 empty
beds in Arizona's prison system, which houses 39,876 male and female
inmates. Critics of the prison expansion point to those empty beds as a
key reason why the state doesn't need to spend more money on beds.

State Corrections Director Charles Ryan acknowledged the empty beds
but said the state has a shortage of permanent medium-security beds --
an 11-bed deficit as of Friday. Most of the empty beds are in
minimum-security or women's facilities, and the populations cannot be
mixed.

Ryan said the shortage will get worse by 2016, when the total prison
population is projected to increase by about 600 more inmates, to 40,477
prisoners. Ryan said the increased projections are based on historical
growth trends from the past five fiscal years. He added that the state
doesn't foresee a significant decline in sex offenders or violent
criminals, who would be housed in medium-security prisons.

"We need the medium (security) beds," Ryan said. "This is an issue of preparing and planning for the future."
The contract calls for up to 2,000 medium-security beds. The first
500 would come online in January 2014. The next 500 would be in place in
January 2015. The Legislature has not determined when, or if, the
remaining 1,000 beds would be added, but their decision would be based
on increases in the medium-security population.

The state also plans to build a 500-bed maximum-security facility in
Buckeye that's scheduled to open July 1, 2015. The cost for that
facility is projected at $50 million. The Legislature allocated $20
million toward the new facility this budget year, which began July 1.

Corrections records also show that in fiscal 2011 there were 296
fewer prisoners than the previous year, and this past fiscal year that
ended June 30, there were 304 fewer inmates for a total of 39,877.

Ryan attributed the overall decline to fewer parole revocations,
fewer illegal immigrants being placed in state custody and an overall
downturn in crime, but he still contends the additional beds are needed.

He said 735 of the empty beds are in women's facilities, where men
can't be housed. There are another 1,127 empty beds at minimum-security
prisons for men, but male inmates at medium-security sites can't be
transferred there because the sites are not as secure, and there would
be safety risks to other inmates, officers and the public. It would be
cost-prohibitive, he said, to retrofit a minimum-security facility for
more serious offenders.

"You can't mix and match," Ryan said. "You have to keep them separate."

Ryan said the 15,500-plus medium-security inmates are not allowed to
work outside a prison's secured perimeter, and they typically are
serving sentences that average 9.7 years. Just more than half of them
have been sentenced for violent crimes, including assaults, sex offenses
and robbery. The rest are serving time for drug offenses, drunken
driving, forgery, theft and burglary, according to Corrections records.

Business model criticized

Records show it's more expensive to have private companies operate prisons.

The most recent information available shows the average daily cost
per inmate in a state-run medium-custody facility in 2010 was $48.42,
while the average daily cost for an inmate in a similar private facility
was $53.02. That translates into a 9.5 percent higher cost per inmate
for a private prison.

If the new private 1,000-bed facility operates at just 90 percent
capacity, the annual cost for taxpayers would be $17.4 million, based on
2010 figures. A state-run facility, under the same scenario, would cost
taxpayers $15.9 million annually.

Ryan countered that Arizona saves up-front construction costs by
having a private company build the facility. The coming contract also
calls for the state to assume ownership of the facility in 20 years.
Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa, disagrees with Ryan's conclusions.

"Private prisons are the wrong business model," Ash said. "They are
in the business for profit. The problem is most legislators just don't
pay attention to this issue. Inmates don't vote, and the public doesn't
see the inmates. They are out of sight, out of mind."

Ash, who is running for a justice of the peace position and will not
return to the 2013 Legislature, is one of the few Republicans who have
publicly opposed adding private prison beds, saying they waste
taxpayers' money. Other outspoken opponents include the American Civil
Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group and
watchdog organization.

"For-profit prison corporations are not accountable to Arizona
taxpayers," said Caroline Isaacs, American Friends Service Committee
program director.

She also contends they are not subject to the same transparency,
reporting or oversight requirements as government agencies, and she
believes the for-profit prison industry is getting a contract because it
has exercised its political muscle in Arizona by hiring a cadre of
lobbyists and made campaign contributions to influential legislators.

At least one of the companies, Corrections Corporation of America,
employs one of Gov. Jan Brewer's key advisers as a lobbyist, and former
Arizona U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini serves on the company's board.

Who's bidding

Arizona got into the private prison business in 1993, with a facility in Marana in southern Arizona.

Today, about 6,500 Arizona inmates or about 16 percent of the inmate
population are in private prisons. The state houses roughly 33,000
inmates in 10 complexes across Arizona. The overall Corrections budget
is about $1 billion.

Following steady growth in the inmate population, the Department of
Corrections in 2009 sought bids from private prison operators for an
additional 5,000 beds in Arizona.

During the bidding process, three inmates escaped July 30, 2010, from
Management & Training Corporation's private prison in Kingman. Two
of the escapees are accused of murdering an Oklahoma couple who were
vacationing in New Mexico.

An Arizona Department of Corrections review of the Kingman facility
after the escape found numerous deficiencies with training and
equipment, including an alarm system that issued false alarms so
frequently that staff members began to ignore them.

The state suspended the bidding process after the escape and revised a
bid for 5,000 beds. That bid was canceled and a new request for up to
2,000 beds was issued after the prison population forecast changed. The
Legislature most recently authorized funding for 1,000 of the 2,000
beds.

Local debate

While the American Friends Service Committee and ACLU have adamantly
opposed the addition of private prison beds, many residents in
communities that may house the inmates have been very supportive, Ryan
said.

That was the case earlier this month at a public hearing in Florence,
known as Arizona's prison capital for its state-operated and private
prisons.

Florence's mayor, town officials and the schools superintendent all
voiced support for more inmate beds, after they were told by GEO Group
that the company's proposal to build a new 1,000-bed prison would create
200 construction jobs, 260 jobs at the facility and a $12 million
annual payroll. The company, however, would not say how much the company
pays its guards.

"We are proud of our institutions, and proud to have a much-needed
service to the state," Florence Mayor Tom Rankin said during the
hearing. "It will create more jobs, and more jobs means more people will
shop here."

Rankin also took a shot at critics of the proposed prison, saying
they didn't live in his community and shouldn't try to derail a jobs
creator.

But opponents, including Isaacs, countered that any new prison was a waste of money for all Arizona taxpayers.

A GEO executive had to correct himself during the hearing for saying
the company had never had an escape at one of its facilities after an
opponent pointed out that an escape had occurred in 2006 at a GEO
facility in Florence. Last year, when The Republic was examining
the bidders for new private prisons, the newspaper found that at least
27 escapes have been reported from GEO facilities over the previous
seven years, including one in Texas that led to a murder.

Pablo Paez, a GEO spokesman, said the Florence escape occurred at a
low-security DUI-offender facility shortly after the company took over
from a prior operator. He added the other escapes predominantly occurred
at low-security facilities, such as halfway houses where offenders are
placed in the months nearing their release.

During other questions from opponents, GEO officials at least twice
attempted to take control of the meeting from Corrections Director Ryan
by telling the critics that their allotted time to speak had ended, when
it had not. Ryan allowed the critics to continue.

"It was evident that the representatives from the local community are
very supportive of the proposed facility," Paez later said.
"Unfortunately, during any public hearing, outside interest groups which
are not related to the local community can at times overtake a meeting
and bring up issues that are not related to the community's views on the
proposed project. This can lead to spontaneous exchanges which
unfortunately can take away from the central purpose of these public
hearings, which should be for the local community to express its views
on the proposed project."

GEO officials did not attempt to cut short comments from supporters of its proposal.

Reach the reporter at craig.harris@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8478.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

As the August 31st deadline for award of a new private prison
contract draws near, there’s been a healthy public debate as to the
justification (or lack thereof) of the state’s plan for up to 2,000 more
medium security prison beds.

Then, Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic put out an excellent and comprehensive analysis
of the facts–prison population is down, private prisons cost
more–contrasted with the bogus rationale touted by Department of
Corrections Director Chuck Ryan to justify their plans to go ahead with
the contracts anyway. All you Psychology Majors out there can use this
for your term papers on “cognitive dissonance.”

Even Linda Ronstadt took a shot at the for-profit prison industry on CNN’s Situation Room
Friday. In a scathing rebuke of Gov. Brewer’s stance on immigration,
Ronstadt connected the dots for viewers on the influence of the
for-profit prison industry, which manages immigrant detention centers as
well as prisons. Ronstadt stated, “…let’s look at the money for a
minute. What Arizona is spending an awful lot of money on is private
prisons. And Chuck Coughlin and Paul [Senseman]…are two of her top
advisers. They are both lobbyists for the Correction Corporation of
America, which is the biggest — one of the prison giants, private prison
giants in the country.” At this point she was cut off by the host. Go
figure.

Finally, a broad coalition of over 50 state and national leaders and
organizations sent a letter to Governor Brewer today asking her to halt
plans for a new for-profit prison contract. The list of over 50 leaders
and organizations includes several Arizona elected officials—both
Democrat and Republican—from the state, county and city levels of
government. Also signed on to the letter are Arizona groups such as the
League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women’s
Phoenix/Scottsdale chapter, and the Center for Economic Integrity.

We are posting the letter in its entirety here, along with the full list of signatories:

August 28, 2012

Dear Governor Brewer and Director Ryan,

We write as organizations and individuals, both in Arizona and
nationally, to oppose Arizona’s planned expansion of its for-profit
prison beds. We urge you to immediately cancel the 2,000-bed prison RFP
and do not award a contract for this procurement. These beds are
unnecessary and costly, and the corporations bidding for the contract
all have histories of mismanagement, abuse, and safety
problems—including several incidents in Arizona prisons already under
contract.

Firstly, Arizona does not need more prison beds,
private or otherwise. The state prison population is dropping, and this
decrease is projected to continue.[1] Furthermore, crime rates are down
and thus investing $17 million in a new facility is a poor use of the
state’s limited resources, particularly considering the crippling cuts
to vital services of the last few years.

Years of study by
the Arizona Department of Corrections reveal that for-profit prisons are
a bad bargain for state taxpayers. These studies have shown that, even
though the corporate vendors promised the facilities would save the
state money, in fact Arizona is overpaying for its private prisons. A
recent investigation showed that many private prisons are more expensive
than their state-operated counterparts. This study estimates that
Arizona taxpayers are wasting $3.5 million per year on for-profit
beds.[2]

All five of the prison corporations under
consideration have spotty records of poor management, violence and
disturbances, chronic understaffing of facilities, safety lapses, and
other problems. Perhaps most notable is Management and Training
Corporation (MTC), which manages the Kingman state prison where three
prisoners escaped in 2010, leading authorities on a two-week,
multi-state manhunt culminating in the murder of a couple vacationing in
New Mexico. Investigations after the incident revealed that the alarms
in the facility had been malfunctioning for over a year, but were never
fixed.[3]

After the escapes from Kingman, the Arizona
Department of Corrections conducted security audits of its other private
prisons. At the three GEO prisons – Florence West, Phoenix West and the
Central Arizona Correctional Facility – inspectors found such issues as
inmates having access to a control panel that could open emergency
exits; an alarm system that did not ring properly when doors were opened
or left ajar; and that staff didn’t carry out such basic security
practices as searching commissary trucks and drivers.[4] Similar
problems were uncovered at MTC’s other Arizona facility in Marana, where
inspectors also found that the swamp coolers were not working (in
August), making it hotter inside the prison than outside.[5]

Three additional corporations that do not currently have contracts with
the state of Arizona have also submitted proposals: Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), Emerald Corrections, and LaSalle.
Corrections Corporation of America operates 6 prisons located in Arizona
that import prisoners from other states and the federal government,
including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A national
investigation revealed that the company’s Eloy Detention Center had the
highest number of immigrant detainee deaths of any ICE facility.[6] The
Inspector General for the State of California (which houses prisoners in
CCA’s Red Rock, La Palma, and Florence Correctional Center in Arizona)
slammed CCA in 2010 for serious security flaws and improper treatment of
inmates. Inspectors found faulty alarms and malfunctioning security
cameras, prisoners evading metal detectors, and discovered that CCA was
not checking the arrest records of employees or screening out those with
gang affiliations.[7]

Emerald’s only facility in Arizona is
an immigrant detention center in San Luis. LaSalle currently operates
prisons only in Texas and Louisiana. Both companies have had issues in
other states where they operate. For a full accounting of the problems
in all five corporations’ prisons, please see the attached “Rap Sheets,”
drawn from published news accounts.

In their efforts to
reduce operational costs, private prison managers often focus
cost-containment strategies on personnel and training, the two most
expensive aspects of incarceration. Privately managed prisons generally
minimize costs by reducing labor expenditures, including providing a
lower level of salaries, staff benefits, and professional training.
Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private
prisons than in publicly operated facilities.

This trend is
reflected in Arizona’s existing private prisons. The Department of
Corrections’ Biennial Comparison Review found that, across the board,
all five of the state’s privately managed facilities had higher staff
turnover and vacancy rates than publicly managed facilities, and guards
frequently scored lower on core competency tests. GEO Group’s Phoenix
West facility had a 61% turnover rate in 2011 and MTC’s Marana prison
had a turnover rate of 56.8% that same year.[8] Deficiencies in
personnel and programming among private prison facilities can compromise
correctional operations, including basic safety and security.
Undertrained and inexperienced guards may not be prepared to handle
serious incidents. Security audits revealed that at the time of the
escapes from MTC’s Kingman prison, 80% of the staff were new or newly
promoted.[9]

There is ample evidence to suggest that
for-profit prison corporations are not accountable to the citizens and
taxpayers of Arizona. As private companies, they are not subject to the
same transparency requirements or checks and balances as the Department
of Corrections, despite the fact that they are performing the same
functions and are paid with taxpayer dollars. The public has very little
information about these facilities, or a voice in how they are run.

And as a result of the corrections budget bill passed last session,
the Department of Corrections is no longer required to conduct a
biennial comparison review of the cost and quality of these facilities,
removing the last shred of public oversight over for-profit prisons and
leaving lawmakers with little information on which to base budgetary
decisions.

This action recently prompted Arizona State
Legislator Chad Campbell to call on Arizona’s Attorney General to
initiate an investigation into possible violations of state law and/or
contract provisions requiring private prisons to save money and provide
the same or better quality of service as the Department of Corrections.
Given the Department’s own cost studies showing that for-profit prisons
are more expensive and recent investigations into safety lapses, staff
vacancies, and poor quality of service, there is substantial basis for
such an investigation. It would be unwise for Arizona to award a
contract to a corporation that may later be found to be violating state
law and/or the terms of its existing contracts.

If containing
costs is a goal, changes to sentencing and community supervision can
help to further stabilize Arizona’s prison population and avoid
unnecessary expenditures on prison expansion. The significant decline of
Arizona’s prison population is attributed in part to legislative and
probation policy changes enacted in the past few years that have
effectively reduced revocations to prison for technical violations. A
bill passed in the 2012 legislative session expanding eligibility for
diversion programs has the potential to contribute to a further decline
in prison populations. Continuing this trend with additional policy
reforms in the upcoming session could render new beds completely
unnecessary, while saving taxpayers millions and doing more to protect
public safety.

The evidence is clear: For-profit prisons are
costly, ineffective, and are not accountable to the citizens and
taxpayers of Arizona. To invest millions more in this failed enterprise
is throwing good money after bad. We urge you to show strong leadership
and stewardship of public funds. Immediately cancel the 2,000-bed prison
RFP and do not award a contract for this procurement.

We appreciate your consideration and would be pleased to provide further information.

The level of violence in Arizona's state prisons has skyrocketed since
Jan Brewer took office, appointing Chuck Ryan as the AZ DOC director.
The suicide and homicide rates doubled and the assaults rate tripled. An excellent articleby Bob Ortega from the Arizona Republic in June highlights some of the murders.

The 2010 killing of native American prisoner Albert Tsosie was a gang hit that helped give ASPC-Lewis a reputation for being one of the bloodiest prisons around; Dana Seawright was murdered there just a few weeks later. Marlon McCowan and Richard A. Johnson, both Native American as well, have finally pled guilty to the hit. The gangs, of course, are most unforgiving of - and violent towards -those they consider their own...remember that, young men out there, when you choose who you call your "brother". Most prison gangs are blood in, blood out.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

On August
10, 2012 a small handful of us in Arizona celebrated Prisoners' Justice
Day, which is a day to remember those who have died in state custody.
Some of us in the "free world" descended upon the Phoenix Art Museum for
a sunrise action, seizing the public space in front of their sign on
Central and Coronado for our canvas. There, about 25 members of the
community chalked a 100-foot wide community memorial to nearly 70
victims of prison violence, neglect or despair, recommitting in the process to our fight for the living as well.

Security
at the Art Museum seemed slow to respond for their part and they were
mean when they did - we'd covered at least 80 feet by the time the chief
came out to find out what was going on (he's lucky I can't find his
card now and name him...). Turns out he called the Phoenix Police to see
if they could send someone out to stop me, but Sgt Schweikert told him
it wouldn't do any good. So, unable to have me arrested for soiling
"their" clean sidewalk with my free speech, the custodians of our
community's art and culture had a city crew hover on stand-by to wash
away the names of the dead - including those put down by their mothers -
the moment we left the sidewalk.

Literally.

I
found that to be downright disrespectful of everything from the first
amendment to the grief of the families who were with us that day, not to
mention petty and intolerant. If we were there about sick children and
cancer instead of dying prisoners and AIDS or Hep C, would they have
been less cruel? We decided that they wouldn't render us invisible again that easily, and Facebook was flooded with photos of the morning's action, mostly of the names of the dead.

In addition to the mothers of Carlo Krakoff,Joseph Venegas, and Dana Seawright, and loved ones of current prisoners, we were joined by former prisoners, anarchists from my neighborhood, Occupiers I was arrested with, artists from the Firehouse Gallery, immigrant rights activists, and Haley from the Phoenix Harm Reduction Organization (PHRO -
check them out!). A cross section of the community I live and work in -
small wonder that the Phoenix Art Museum thought it was too good for
us.Below is a
little something I made from the photos of the action, many of which
were taken by my comrade from 4th Ave jail, Janet Higgins, who made a
special effort to document the individual names. Please print it up and
send it inside, if you correspond with any prisoners. Let them know they
have not been forgotten...

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Congratulations to Betty, and blessings to Donna Hamm for sticking with this fight all these years. Now we need to figure out how to get Brewer to let Bill Macumber go, too, before he dies...he doesn't even have a freedom4bill website anymore - I think he gave up.

Nation's longest-serving female inmate was granted clemency

Bob OrtegaAug. 13, 2012

After 49 years behind bars, the nation's longest-serving female inmate is free.

Betty Smithey, 69, whose prison term began following her conviction
for the murder of a 15-month-old Phoenix girl in 1963, appeared at a
parole hearing Monday morning and by that afternoon walked, with the aid
of a cane, out of the gates of the Perryville state prison in Goodyear.

"It's wonderful driving down the road and not seeing any barbed
wire," Smithey said by phone as she traveled with relatives to her
niece's Mesa home, where she will reside. "I am lucky, so very lucky."

"Like I told the (parole) board, I know it's going to be a big adjustment, but I'll take it and I'll make good," she said.

Members of Arizona's Board of Executive Clemency agreed that Smithey
had proven she is no longer the troubled woman who at age 20 murdered
Sandy Gerberick on New Year's Day 1963, while working as the family's
live-in baby-sitter, or the woman who that same year threatened to kill
herself after being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Board members voted 4-1 to grant an absolute discharge, not only freeing Smithey from prison but also any community supervision.

Smithey became eligible for discharge after Gov. Jan Brewer granted
her clemency in June, reducing her sentence to 49 years to life.

"I really see no value in keeping you in prison any longer. I really
see no value in keeping strings on you any longer," Parole Board
Chairman and Director Jesse Hernandez told Smithey before voting to
grant her discharge.

Monday's vote was a rare occurrence. Sentenced to life before August
1973, Smithey was numbered among the so-called "old-code lifers" who are
eligible for parole only if first granted a commutation by the
governor. She is only the third such inmate to be granted clemency since
1989.

In 1994 and 2003, boards recommended clemency for Smithey only to
have first Gov. Fife Symington and then Gov. Janet Napolitano deny it.

Last spring, not long after the board unanimously recommended
clemency for Smithey, Brewer replaced three of its five members; on
Monday, the new members in particular sought reassurance that Smithey
doesn't pose any danger of violence. Much of their questioning of
Smithey, her attorneys and supporters and psychiatrist Elizabeth
Kohlhepp focused on Smithey's youthful mental state, whether the board
could be sure she'd changed, and whether she could handle the stress of
returning to the outside world after five decades.

As the deciding vote came down in her favor, Smithey crossed herself
and looked down briefly as if in disbelief that the moment had finally
arrived.

Smithey endured a horrific childhood of abandonment, abuse and
mistreatment by foster and adoptive parents, creating, Kohlhepp said, a
fragile youth with poor coping skills who became psychotic under extreme
stress.

In her early years in prison she was rebellious and troublesome,
escaping four times from three different prisons between 1974 and 1981.

But Kohlhepp, who evaluated Smithey's mental health in 2003 and again
recently, said that over the decades Smithey worked hard to transform
herself.

"She has no risk factors for violence," said Kohlhepp. "She doesn't have a criminal mind-set."

The key moment, said Smithey, came in 1983 when she received a letter
from Emma Simmons, Sandy Gerberick's mother, forgiving her for the
crime.

"She made me feel that I wasn't a monster," said Smithey. "I felt if
she could forgive me for taking her child's life, I could forgive
myself. ... It was my responsibility to try to become a better person
than I was."

Dozens of supporters turned out for Monday's hearing.

Andy Silverman, a University of Arizona law professor who has known
Smithey since working on an appeal for her in 1971, said, "I've changed
over those 41 years, and I can assure the board that she has as well.
... She's a good and caring person. She always shows more interest in
others than in herself."

After Monday's vote, Smithey smiled and waved to her supporters,
mouthing "thank you" and then clutching her niece Rebecca Henderson in a
tearful hug. Smithey shook each board member's hand and thanked them
before being led into the prison to prepare for her release.

Family members said they painted and decorated a room for her to live in.

We
just learned that a new round of hearings has been scheduled for
proposed private prisons in AZ. The first hearing was last night in
Coolidge. The second is scheduled for Thursday IN ELOY. Details below.

We desperately need people to attend these meetings and speak out against the prisons.
It is always preferable for these to be local people who live in the
community. But since these prisons “belong” to everyone in AZ (and will
be paid for with your tax dollars), anyone has the right to give their
input.

We
will be organizing carpools to the next two hearings (Eloy and
Florence), so please contact me ASAP if you can go. The last two are in
Yuma and Winslow, and I doubt we can get people together to go from
Tucson, so if you know ANYONE who lives in these towns, please send them
the info and encourage them to speak out.

Finally,
if you are not able to physically attend, please consider submitting
written testimony to the Department of Corrections. Please explicitly
state that you are submitting formal testimony and you want it included
in the record. Also be sure to reference the solicitation in your
letter or email:

The
Arizona Department of Corrections is considering final bids from five
private, for-profit correctional management corporations for the
construction and management of an additional 2,000 state prison beds.

The Department of Corrections will be holdingpublic hearingsin
each of the towns under consideration for a new prison or prisons. The
public is encouraged to attend and voice their concerns about having a
private prison as a neighbor.

Here is theschedule of the hearings:

1. Coolidge: Management and Training Corporation (MTC). The public hearing will be held Thursday, August 6th, 5-7pm at the Coolidge City Council Chambers, 911 S. Arizona Blvd., Coolidge. *

2. Eloy: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The public hearing will be held Thursday, August 9th, 5-7pm at the Eloy Junior High School Auditorium, 404E. Phoenix Ave., Eloy.

4. San Luis (Yuma):
There are three corporations vying for a contract for Yuma:

Management
and Training Corporation (MTC), GEO Group, and Emerald Corrections.
The public hearing will be held Tuesday, August 14th, 5-9pm at the City of San Luis City Parks and Rec Cesar Chavez Cultural Center, 1015 N. Main St., San Luis.

5. Winslow: LaSalle/Southwest Corrections. The public hearing will be held Thursday, August 16th, 5-7pm at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center, 600 E. Cherry St., Winslow.

*Our
apologies for the late notice, but the Department of Corrections
announced the hearings on August 6, the day of the first hearing.

TheAmerican Friends Service Committeecondemns
the decision to build more private prisons as unnecessary and deeply
irresponsible given the state’s economic crisis and the dismal safety
records of all of the corporations involved.

Arizona’s
prison population is decreasing, and the Department of Corrections
projects negative growth for the next few years. Yet, the Governor and
state legislature appropriated $16 million for new prison beds.
Arizona’s annualcorrections budget is over
$1 billion, consuming 11% of the state general fund. The Department of
Corrections was the only state agency whose budget saw an increase this
year, even as education, social services, and health care funding was
slashed.

In February of 2012, AFSC of Arizona releasedPrivate Prisons: The Public’s Problem,
a comprehensive report on the for-profit prison industry in Arizona
that presented damning evidence that these facilities do not save the
state money, have serious safety problems, and are not accountable to
the taxpayers of Arizona:http://afsc.org/resource/arizona-prison-report.

####

The
American Friends Service Committee is a non-profit organization that
works for justice and human rights both nationally and internationally.
The Arizona office, based in Tucson, advocates for criminal justice
reform.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

I'm sorry Coolidge - I've almost given up on you. Your sad little city is putting all her eggs - your children's futures - into the prison system. Listen to the economic experts, not me - they say that only perpetuating and profiting from all this crime and punishment will save you, while I say that only your highest, not your lowest, aspirations will. If you settle for less and build a prison, your town is already dead.

I want to know why the Chief of Police thinks that building a prison will reduce local crime, though. How absurd. That's like thinking another prison will solve the community's economic problems for generations, too. They're surrounded by prisons to go work at already and still have an outrageous unemployment rate - and a good share of the county's crime as well...if a lot of a "good thing" is bad for you, why would you go for more? That sounds like a soul sickness of some kind.By the way, former AZ DOC director and enabling architect of post-invasion Iraqi prisons Terry Stewart is consulting with MTC on getting this contract, as I recall. Remember Abu Ghraib? We exported Stewart's and Ryan's philosophies to oversee that place - before anyone was tortured by Americans there. Is it any wonder that Arizona prisons are so full of violence and despair right now? Such is the culture these men breed.The good city of Coolidge may well get what's coming to them, after hopping so happily in bed with MTC and Terry Stewart...it's just that their kids still deserve better options than to be guards or prisoners - they aren't the ones making these decisions today, but they have to live with them for decades. Once you build a prison it's hard to figure out what to do with it when you don't need it anymore...and if your whole economy depends on that place thriving, you quickly become invested in perpetuating the need, which means finding more humans to criminalize and exile and imprison. If we were really smart we'd elect a legislature that would take control and outlaw the privatization of prisons as inefficient and unethical. But that's apparently too much to hope for right now...

By Joey ChenowethStaff Writer

Published: Wednesday, August 8, 2012 4:09 AM MST

With a final decision less than a month away, the
Arizona Department of Corrections held a public hearing in the Coolidge
City Council chambers to hear the final pitch from city officials and
the public on why they should choose Coolidge as the site for a new
1,000-bed, medium-security prison.

And whereas the public hearing
held here last year brought both sides of the debate to the microphone,
Monday’s event revealed an apparently unanimous support for the
facility, as a majority of the people in the audience were wearing
T-shirts stating “Coolidge: Still The Right Choice.”

Members of the
Department of Corrections committee in charge of choosing the site,
including department director Chuck Ryan, sat in the chair normally
reserved for councilmembers in front of a packed chamber. First, Ryan
let the audience know that there will be hearings for all the remaining
seven site candidates, including one in Florence and one in Eloy, with a
final decision of the winning candidate by August 31.

Management
and Training Corporation, the company who will own the private
facility, then gave a presentation promoting the credentials and values
of the company. MTC’s representatives particularly emphasized their
history of training underprivileged people to have skills that will lead
to future employment, which led to their prison rehabilitation program,
which aims to educate inmates to be better qualified for the workforce.
They also emphasized their economic impact, which includes an extra
$300,000 in tax money to the city and 200 construction jobs.

Mayor
Tom Shope then came to the podium to kick off the public statements,
which included a picture of Coolidge’s economic struggles, including 15
percent unemployment, and how the facility might help.

“In May
2010, the Coolidge City Council unanimously passed a resolution in
support of a proposal to locate a private correctional facility in
Coolidge,” he said. “We support this proposal for many reasons,
including jobs, the economic benefit to city government, a great
location, a comfort level with MTC and a comfort level with having a
prison within our city.”

Shope then introduced some special
guests that attended the meeting to show their support for the facility.
Frank Pratt, District 23 representative, and Pete Rios and David Snider
from the Pinal County Board of Supervisors, appeared in support.

“Pinal is absolutely committed to having private prisons,” Snider said. “It’s a clean industry. You feel rather safe.”

“If
we look back historically, which county has been most receptive of
private prisons in the history of this state,” Rios said. “When nobody
else wanted a private prison in their backyard, Pinal County said,
‘We’ll take it.’”

Locals then flooded the podium, beginning with
Police Chief Joe Brugman, who sees the facility as a great partner to
the police department in lowering crime in the city.

“I’ve been
involved in the prison project for quite some time,” he said. “I feel
confident to say that building a prison here in Coolidge makes complete
sense, and is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Sharon Boyd, the
drug prevention director for the Coolidge Youth Coalition, stressed the
importance of a better economy when it comes to keeping kids on the
right path.

“I support the youth of Coolidge,” Boyd said. “I
support the city of Coolidge. I support the schools of Coolidge. I
support the families of Coolidge.”

Leon Stock, the president of
the Chamber of Commerce, expressed local business owners’ support of
this facility, because the more people have jobs, the more people will
spend in the city.

“On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, I would
like to lend my voice of support for this facility,” Stock said. “The
people of Coolidge are not intimidated at all about having this facility
right next door.”

After City Manager Bob Flatley, Coolidge
Unified School District Superintendent Cecilia Johnson, former Superior
Court Judge William Platt and school board member T.J. Shope reiterated
the significance of the new facility in improving Coolidge’s economic
situation, others looked toward the long-term benefits.

“It’s
immediate benefit and immediate income,” said Alton Bruce, Growth
Management director. “But it’s also more long term than that and helps
develop that area into what we want it to be.”

Even those who do
not live in Coolidge came to express the importance of a correctional
facility in developing a community. Ruth Conrad, an employee at a
competing prison, said she studied MTC’s proposal and was very impressed
with their commitment to rehabilitating inmates. The recent Poston
Butte High School graduate Lorenzo Teruya, who is pursuing a career in
law enforcement, said he respects the Coolidge community, and wants the
students in the city to receive the same benefits of learning from a
correctional facility as he did in San Tan Valley.

“It allows
local schools to partner with the prison to further education in law
enforcement,” Teruya said. “It’s awesome to see a community that bands
together because they believe in something.”

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Wonder what my community could have done with $50 million this year? For sure we'd have given our disabled and chronically ill people medical care, built some housing, gotten some folks off the streets and out of the grips of both those who victimize and those who criminalize them...we could have done a lot with that money. Instead Arizona is building a new Supermax and adding 500 more private prison beds (they usually take the low-level drug users and drunk drivers who could have gone to a treatment program instead - if we had any for those who can't pay, that is...).

For those who think they get drug and alcohol treatment in prison - think again. The DOC says 75% of their prisoners last year came in because of drug/alcohol related problems. How many of the 60,000 prisoners they saw altogether got any treatment?

"In FY 2011, 2,302 inmates completed substance abuse treatment. Substance abuse treatment services include moderate and intensive treatment, methamphetamine treatment, co-occurring disorder treatment, and DUI treatment." What is that - only four percent of the prisoners who got drug or alcohol treatment over the whole year? And we even have special prisons built for them to ge tthat "treatment" in? And Chuck Ryan has a billion dollar budget?Wow. Where does it all go?

Well, thanks to the Tea Party we get another 500 hundred prison beds for low-level offenders, and the state had plans already for another 500 Supermax beds for the mentally ill we're denying community-based and hospital care to in this state. Brilliant strategy, suspending compliance with Arnold -v- Sarn because of a budget crisis, while pouring all sorts of new dough into the prisons where you plan to put us instead. They don't put the hard-core gangsters all in lock-down, that's for sure - no one would be left to run the prison yards if they did - the guards aren't in control...

I am tired of the political cat and mouse
game that Tea Party Republicans are playing with the Arizona Attorney
General’s Mortgage Settlement Fund. It was wrong to sweep money from the
fund to benefit the private prison industry at the expense of Arizona
homeowners.

Earlier this year, Tea Party Republicans stole $50 million from a fund that was created
by a joint settlement between 49 states, the federal government and the
country’s five largest residential mortgage loan servicers who allegedly
engaged in fraudulent loan and foreclosure practices. The money was
supposed to be used for foreclosure prevention programs in Arizona to
help families hit hardest by the mortgage crisis.

Instead, $50 million was swept into the
general fund and can be used to pay for things like the expansion of
private, for-profit prisons. Coincidently, this year Republicans
approved spending $50 million between now and fiscal year 2014 to build 500 new beds in private prisons.

Here are my questions: How many families
would be able to keep their homes if that $50 million were being spent
on them instead of on 500 new prison beds? Also, do prison beds really
cost $100,000 a piece? It seems to me that $100,000 is closer to the
cost of a house than a bed.

This is a clear indication that Tea Party
priorities are with the private prison industry. Tea Party Republicans
knew that sweeping this fund was going to result in lawsuits and they
did it anyway.

As soon as the fund sweep became public,
there were reports that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office sent
Republican leadership a memo citing legal objections to the sweep.

Republicans have refused to share this
memo. A group of Arizona residents affected by the mortgage crisis is
suing to stop the fund sweep and requested a copy of the memo as part of
the legal proceedings. The Republicans refused, claiming that it was
privileged information. A judge subsequently ruled that the memo was not
privileged but stopped short of ordering them to turn over the
document.

The very fact that Republicans were
working so hard to keep that memo from seeing the light of day is
another indication of their misplaced priorities. They are playing
hide-and-seek with the court while people are losing their homes.

Arizonans deserve leadership they can
count on and who shares their priorities. House Democrats remain focused
on creating jobs, improving education and helping communities get and
stay strong.

— Chad Campbell, a Phoenix Democrat, serves as minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives.